Rats 1, County officials 0
(11/8/02 - DES MOINES, Iowa) — Polk County officials have decided to surrender the courthouse basement to rats.
County officials said Tuesday they plan to abandon the basement within two weeks, possibly in favor of rented space across the street. Court records and more than a dozen employees will have to be transferred.
Rats have been spotted in the basement for decades, but the rodent population has grown and the rats have become braver in recent months, partly due to spring cleaning, said Bruce Greiner, director of the county's general services department.
"Once we cleaned up all that stuff down there, we kind of took away their places to hide," Greiner said.
There have been dozens of rat sightings in the past 90 days, including one that invaded a judge's restroom vanity on the second floor and another seen leaping from a desk drawer on the first floor.
Court employees have been warned to keep food in glass or metal containers and to clap their hands when walking down dark hallways.
"Just because of the sheer nature of the issue, we think that we're better off to move people out of the basement," County Manager Teree Caldwell-Johnson said. "I don't think that we would ever move people back into that basement." You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
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